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List Price: $49.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 18799
Released: July 5, 2005 |
| Our Price: $37.98 |
| Used Price: $39.96 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Hollywood's legendary tough guys and femme fatales collide again in The Film Noir Classic Collection Volume Two. The Collection includes five smoldering classics, all new to DVD and all digitally remastered: Born to Kill, Clash By Night, Crossfire, Dillinger and The Narrow Margin. The movies star film noir icons Robert Mitchum, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Ryan, Lawrence Tierney and Claire Trevor, among others, and feature commentaries from film historians and directors including Robert Wise on Born To Kill Peter Bogdanovich, with archival contributions from Fritz Lang, on Clash By Night; John Milius on Dillinger and William Friedkin and Richard Fleischer on The Narrow Margin.
Description of Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 2 (Born to Kill / Clash by Night / Crossfire / Dillinger (1945) / The Narrow Margin (1952)):
Crossfire was nominated for the 1947 Best Picture Oscar won by Gentleman's Agreement. Gentlemen may propose, if not agree, that Crossfire was better. Like its upscale rival, the film noir raises the specter of anti-Semitism in America: just after World War II, an affable Jew (Sam Levene) is beaten to death by one of several GIs out "crawling." Solving the crime takes all night, but for the audience the killer's identity is scarcely in doubt; Robert Ryan's chilling study in psychopathic bigotry scored him his lone Oscar nomination. He's nearly matched in creepiness by Paul Kelly as an odd nightbird married to sultry Gloria Grahame. Two other worthy Roberts--Young and Mitchum--respectively play the police detective and the Army sergeant wondering which of his guys is a murderer. Incidentally, the hot button in the Richard Brooks novel was not anti-Semitism but homophobia--a sweaty subtext in Edward Dmytryk's film. --Richard T. Jameson
Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 2 (Born to Kill / Clash by Night / Crossfire / Dillinger (1945) / The Narrow Margin (1952)) Reviews:
Excellent noir. 
2009-07-19 - The DVD transfer is very good with few if any scratches or other blemishes. Very watchable
There were 2 Academy Award nominations for best supporting roles given to members of the cast. Robert Ryan, as the brutish anti-Semite murderer and Gloria Grahame, as the party girl who won't give an alibi for an innocent soldier, both received nods for their performances in this film.
This movie shows another side of film noir. Hatred. There are no sexual or monetary motives for our crimes, only Antisemitism. The plot is a foray into the crime and a Sergeant's (Robert Mitchum) attempt to help a GI (George Cooper) being framed for the murders. Robert Young takes the role of Captain Finlay, an aloof and moralizing policeman. Sam Levine plays the victim.
This noir gets an extra star for the outstanding performances from the cast and in particular, Ryan and Grahame.
Highly rccommended for: Film noir fans. Not for young children.
Drama and Danger Abounds 
2009-04-24 - The collection is really quite good. Bad things happen to good people and some only so-so people too. Of the group Narrow Margin is my fav.
The 3 Roberts caught in a Crossfire
2008-07-26 - This film was released the same year as the much touted "Gentleman's Agreement" with Gregory Peck which also dealt with anti-semitism. But this film is the superior of the two because it features an Oscar nominated performance by the under-rated Robert Ryan as the vicious bigoted soldier. He is superb in that role but it also typecasted him almost forever as the villain you'd love to hate--a nasty, sneering bigot versus the few heroic roles that he had ("The Proud Ones", "The Wild Bunch", "The Set-Up"). The other 2 Roberts, Young & Mitchum, are also good but they're outclassed by Ryan's vicious Montgomery. Though the original victim of the hate crime was homosexual this doesn't change the theme of the film which is how intolerance can become like a loaded gun. Edward Dmytryk would never direct a film with this so much power again since he and writer, Adrian Scott, would be black-listed and imprisoned. Outside of the landmark Western, "Warlock", the director's authority and drive would be diminished by lesser features though he did direct "The Caine Mutiny" and "Broken Lance".
Crossfire
2007-06-21 - Gripping, intricate thriller is top-grade noir, with solid performances all around, particularly from Ryan and Young. The film's as biting a condemnation of anti-semitism as the better-known "Gentleman's Agreement", released the same year. Assured, atmospheric direction from Edward Dmytryk makes this an unheralded classic.
"Hate is like a loaded gun."
2007-06-17 - Crossfire remains one of the best Hollywood message movies because, unlike the admirably intentioned Gentleman's Agreement, which it beat to theatres by a few months, it chooses to send its message via the form an excellent noir thriller rather than have an outraged star constantly saying "It's because I'm Jewish, isn't it?" It's much easier to get the message that hate is like a loaded gun across when the dead bodies are actual rather than metaphorical. Somewhat shamefully, the brief featurette on the Warners' DVD doesn't mention that novelist Richard Brooks disowned the film over the shift from a homophobic murder to an anti-Semitic one, but it's interesting to note that while the victim is killed primarily because he is Jewish, there's little doubt in Sam Levene's performance that the character is in fact also gay - not a mincing caricature, but there's definitely a two lost souls aspect to his scenes with George Cooper's confused soldier. There's not much of a mystery to who the murderer is: even though the killing is carried out in classic noir shadows, the body language of the killer is instantly recognisable, but then the film has its characters drift to the same conclusion before the halfway point: the tension comes from proving it and saving the fall guy.
There's an element of Ealing Films to the gang of soldiers teaming together to get their buddy out of a fix (you could almost see that aspect as a blueprint for Hue and Cry), but the atmosphere is pure RKO noir. Set over one long sweltering night, the film has a great look filled with deep dark blacks and shadows born as much out of economy as style (it cut back on lighting time and allowed director Edward Dmytryk more time to work with the actors) and the excellent cast make the most of the fine script: a laid-back but quietly charismatic Robert Mitchum, Robert Young's Maigret-like detective, Gloria Grahame's tramp and the perpetually creepy Paul Kelly as her compulsive liar admirer, a guy who tries on stories the way other people try on ties. But the lasting impression is of Robert Ryan's excellent performance as a guy who could do with a good leaving alone as he does his best to help the wrongly accused man all the way to death row. A big surprise hit in 1946, as a reward, Dmytryk and producer Adrian Scott found themselves investigated by the HUAC, which itself had a notable tendency to target Jews. So much for crusading...
Warners' DVD boasts a good transfer despite some print damage at one point, a brief retrospective featurette on the film and an audio commentary by Alain Silver and James Ursini that (like the featurette) includes excerpts from an interview with Edward Dmytryk.
